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This week Kim talks with Michelle Mills-Porter about her experience of living as a refugee for a week after being caught in the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka. Michelle talks about living with other international survivors in a village elders garden, feeling afraid and venerable and how this has led to her work in Human Magnificence.   Kim & Michelle talk about…   The power created when humanity comes together. What happened when they finally did got home. How Michelle had changed and how she dealt with it. What she learnt from the privilege of being there. Living with the memories and trauma. How setting up a charity to help the orphaned children of the village aligned her with her own core values. The importance of living in alignment with your core values. How the experience shaped her work in to Human Magnificence. Michelle is an award-winning Speaker, Author and a Master Behaviour Profiler.   She is a multi-award-winning business owner and creator of “The People Reader – the bullet proof system for winning new clients.” You can connect with Michelle on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellemillsporter  Or via her website over at https://www.mmp.uk.com   Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

In Episode 9 of the Living Your Legacy Podcast, we’re talking about emotions.  Why its hard to handle them and accept where they take us?  What we can do when they swerve out of control?  And what makes them appear out of nowhere sometimes, knocking us off balance and making our lives miserable and stressed?   Our natural inclinations is to resist conflict and potential stress.  We automatically use survival techniques to move ourselves away from potential danger and discomfort.  When emotion hits we feel scared, isolated and vulnerable. Anxiety takes us into the unknown, a place where we feel out of control and disempowered.  Our emotions aren’t tangible so we find it hard to rationalise them and make sense of how we are feeling.   If our emotional state is raised over  time we feel overwhelmed and vulnerable.  This very quickly leads to mental, and physical health problems.  It can be hard to notice it creeping up on us at first, as we very quickly get used to raised levels of anxiety in our daily lives, each new level becoming a new norm very quickly as we adapt to the raised state of ‘danger’.  Bad habits develop quickly, avoidance, negative copping strategies etc until our mental health starts to break down.  At this point, we generally find that we haven’t got the relevant toolkit to get us out of trouble.  We don’t need big traumas in our lives to get us here.  Anxiety is like a snowball rolling down a hill, picking up speed and extra snow on the way down if it isn’t stopped and dealt with.   We’re going to talk about strategies to help you stop the build up of emotion, your own personal toolkit to keep you feeling safe and in control along the way.  We will look at ways to create new mental and emotional habits to rewrite your reactions and behaviours, and in so doing, live a positive and purposeful life.   Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

In this episode of the Living Your Legacy Podcast, Helen interviews Jill Cox, author of Moments of Meaning. Jill has worked for many years in the environment of End of Life and Community Care.  She brings to the table those difficult questions around care, dying and the conversations that get us through to the other side.  Jill has great insight and empathy within this sphere, bringing her own personal experiences of work, and personal care with her association with the End Of Life Partnership and St Lukes Hospice in Cheshire.  She has also supported family members through life limiting situations, and her book was the result of this wealth of hands on experience and study.  Moments of Meaning is an amazing support and guide for anyone who has to deal with end of life issues, whether as a carer, family member or professional.   The interview reflects the difficulties we all have in dealing with taboo, and sensitive topics.  Facing our own mortality is complex and fearful for most of us, and we delay having meaningful conversations that would certainly help to ease the process for the patient, and facilitate grieving for those left behind. ‘Dying’ has become a taboo subject culturally.  We naturally shy away from its implications, and the practicalities of preparing for it.  Through her sensitive insights, Jill enables the listener to enter a world where fear is managed and difficult relationships resolved in order to help with ‘dying well’.   Jill’s book is available now on Amazon.co.uk   Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

In this episode of the Living Your Legacy Podcast we look at the Big Players in life that get in our way of living fully and consistently with our values and goals.   Why is it so hard to commit to nurturing ourselves properly and doing the right thing every day, in order  to make sure we’re on top form mentally and emotionally?  The answer is simple.  We always revert back to our negative default settings of survival.  When we try to adjust our habits we face walls and blocks which make change difficult.  The challenges we set for ourselves are too high and unrealistic, and are often focused on fast changes, rather than longevity and lifestyle.   So what can we do to help ourselves?  We take a look at the basics of diet, exercise and sleep and suggest strategies and coping mechanisms to keep us on track.  The biggest takeaway from the episode seem to suggest that we are under too much pressure to create new behaviours in line with fashions or trends.  We set the bar too high for ourselves leaving us open to disappointment and a sense of failure.  We’re human and are susceptible  to the effects of emotion and the judgement of others.  The media encourages us to strive for perfection in an already stressful lifestyle where we multi task and manage several social masks at any one time.  Finding clarity and a way through all the hype and jargon can be nearly impossible, as the world around us changes its wellbeing instructions and messages to suit the latest fashion.   Work on yourself first in order to find out what’s really important and achievable for you, creating a realistic set of targets based on long term lifestyle changes and not quick fixes.  Start with simple, ‘baby’ steps and goals.  If you slip up, go back to basics the next day and try again.  Don’t give up!   Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

This week Kim interviews Nikki Owen, who shares her unbelievable story that takes her from solitary confinement in Holloway prison to the top of her game as an international speaker.   Her story is one that you don’t not want to miss, especially if you or anyone you love suffers from Pre-Menstrual Syndrome!   Nikki’s journey from a happy child to the woman she is today began at eighteen when she was incarcerated in Holloway prison for intent to kill, often left alone in solitary confinement. It was her charismatic barrister who saved her and made legal history as the first case to consider PMS, inspiring her own later research into charisma .   Kim and Nikki talk about   How Nikki overcame her feelings of guilt, low self-esteem and loathing to now helps other to do the same. How our hormones can cause split personalities creating havoc in our bodies and hell in our relationships. How the body and our hormones change through the years. The over prescription off Anti-depressants to mask the symptoms of PMS. What sexy really is…at any age! How to embrace and love every minute of the journey.   Nikki Owen is an international thought-leader, award winning speaker, bestselling author and personal breakthrough coach. Her unique and ground-breaking ideas on authenticity are challenging and inspirational. Nikki has worked with over 2000 people on a one-to-one basis refining her unique approach and thousands more through her work as a keynote speaker on charisma and personal transformation.   Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

In Episode 5 of the Living Your Legacy Podcast, Helen interviews Rachel Smith, Aka The wonky Artist.  Rachel’s story is the ultimate roller coaster ride of trauma, adversity and personal courage, as she has fought to survive a terrible accident which left her paralysed, and has continued to live her life as fully as is possible.  This is an amazing story of real life struggles, with its own twists and turns of hope, helplessness and joy.  Rachel is inspirational and motivating to those of us who feel unable to move forward with our own lives for whatever reason.   As she tells it, her story is dedicated to a well hidden talent she never knew she had, and how she came to find it.  20 years ago she was hit by a freak wave in the Indian Ocean which broke her neck.  Since that day, she was unable to walk and had no grip in her hands.  Her body was paralysed but her sense of humour has always remained firmly in place!  For the last 9 months she was forced to stay in bed due to a terrible pressure sore on her skin.  Her mental and emotional wellbeing deteriorated significantly, and her husband, in desperation, one day brought paints and brushes to her hospital bedside and encouraged her to have a go.  The rest as they say, is history!   Discovering that she could paint gave her a new lease of life and helped to repair her mental health and positivity.  She has set up a small but flourishing business, selling her paintings all over the world, taking commissions as her specialty to help others to revive special memories of travel and happy times.  Rachel herself has always loved to travel and finds her painting incredibly healing and therapeutic, taking her out of her self and her situation into the beauty of her art.   Listen and be inspired!  thewonkyartist.wordpress.com  On Instagram and Facebook as The Wonky Artist. Shop online and buy one of her incredible pantings for yourself!   Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

In Episode 4 of the Living Your Legacy Podcast, we dive into the subject of authenticity, as we talk about living our legacy on our own terms.  Being truly ourselves can be scary,  leaving us feeling vulnerable to the judgment and criticism of others.  It takes bravery and courage to remove our social masks and just be ‘real’.  Most people find it easier to live disconnected from who they really are.  They think is easier to stay in ‘fight or flight’ mode, hiding behind other peoples’ values and choices. This leads, however, to the  development stress and anxiety as we strive to fit in with social norms, and aspire to other peoples ideals and realities.   Most people aren’t even aware of this detachment, they don’t even know they have  a problem.  So the first point of real understanding or noticing, can be major anxiety or stress, a gradual inability to cope with day to day events and experiences.  We act out so many roles in our daily lives - at work, school, at home and in relationships, that we can lose track of our identity - what it means to be me.  When we do reach a point of crisis it is  common for us not to have the emotional skills to set ourselves back on the right course, in order to be comfortable in our own skin again.   So how do we know when we’re disconnected? We become stressed and anxious easily.  Maybe we use alcohol, drugs, food or exercise to change our state of mind.  Lethargy, poor sleep patterns, feeling unsafe or scared and repeated outbreaks of sickness or fatigue, can all be indicators that we are living ‘outside our box’.  When we are living in alignment with our true values and purpose we feel engaged, energised, sociable and adventurous.   We take a look at what causes us to disconnect and how to learn to do things differently without compromising ourselves each and every day.  Simple, ‘baby’ steps back on the road to contentment and inner calm.   Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

In this Episode of the Living Your Legacy Podcast we look at what it means to ‘Live In The Moment’, how it can enrich and make sense of your daily life and why it is so important for us all to stay in the moment as much as possible.  We allow our lives to become full of unrealistic targets and anxieties, we let other people direct us and shape who we become, and we rely on media to tell us how we should look/what we should eat/how we should live our lives every day. We can never live up to these unrealistic targets, and aspiring to them only leads to a sense of personal failure and lack of self esteem.  We lose the ability to make good choices and to trust ourselves. Living in the moment allows us to get rid of other people’s ’shoulds’ and to declutter our mental and emotional health.  It helps us to experience things fully, without a fog of anxiety or expectation getting in the way of our wellbeing. Living In The Moment is about using strategies to stay with yourself as you experience thoughts, emotions and experiences in a full and positive way.  Its the difference, each and every day, between ‘living fully’ and existing. Techniques such as mediation, reflection and mindfulness practices allow you to gently come to terms with whats’ happening in your day, allowing you peaceful and mindful pauses away from stress and anxiety.  We develop bad habits, allowing ourselves to feel at home with heightened emotions, thoughts from yesterday and fears for tomorrow.  Staying in the here and now, is the only way we can really appreciate TODAY, conserving our emotional energy, and clearing the way for us to make great choices and empowered decisions.   Yesterday has already gone, and tomorrow doesn’t even exist, so why give away your energy in those directions, when keeping it with you will bring peace and contentment?  Fear is our  default setting in life, as we follow our inbuilt response as human beings of ‘fight or flight’.  But this strategy keeps us in a mental rut and stagnation.  Learning to sit, or walk, or indeed, in any way stay with your emotions, and focus on them, helps the ties that bind us to them to break, giving us resolution and strength. Meditation and mindfulness techniques can be learnt simply and practised daily helping to calm the mind and body, clear our thoughts and reconnect us with the safe spaces insides ourselves where we can rest and pause on our busy schedules. Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

Episode 2 of the Living Your Legacy podcast looks at being Bold & Brave when embracing life’s opportunities, breaking out of your comfort zone and making great choices today for the rest of your life. Saboteurs constantly get in your way of living authentically, following your own moral code and beliefs every day. Fear and survival are your default settings in life and it is tough to break habits and move into new patterns and routines. Fear holds you back, stifling your success and achievements, letting you give away responsibility for your own life to others who have their own agendas. ’Staying safe’, fear of failure and ridicule, and an over willingness to compromise yourself at every turn, leaves you weak and disempowered. Too often it’s those ‘voices in your head’ which take control of your daily life. They distract you away from what is real and relevant, and disarm even the strongest amongst us, causing you to falter and lose your way. As you listen to those voices, you forget to use your own voice, choosing instead to stay in the shadows on the sidelines, out of the game, whilst others play your hand for you. It would be great to be brave and bold enough to face your own fears and demons head on, learning to take responsibility for your own life and actions and creating a space for your own happiness, instead of relying on others to make you feel good about yourself. Let us help break down your barriers, learning to listen to your own thoughts daily in quiet spaces or meditation, taking back control so you can step into your real self. Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

Episode 1 of the Living Your Legacy podcast looks at Living Your Legacy Today, not waiting for others to tell your story when you’re gone, but being positive and focused each day, on living the best way you know how.  Its all about living ‘your story’, in ‘your words’, on ‘your terms’,  ‘your way’. We’ll be talking about what it means to live authentically, being in the moment, facing adversities with courage and making choices boldly.  We don’t want to wait for trauma, illness or crisis in our lives before we start living fully.  We’ll help you to focus on what’s important now, before life gets in the way of us achieving amazing things, and finding peace and calm in quiet moments.  Don’t leave it too late before you start to make the most of each and every moment, and to appreciate with gratitude your ‘haves’ rather than your ‘have nots’. Episode 1 looks at acceptance, the knowledge and understanding needed to make good choices, staying true to your authentic self.  We want you to stay as stress free as possible on your journey, so we’ll talk about tools and techniques to support relaxation and good sleep.  Keeping your true identity on the rollercoaster  ride of life is tough, and sometimes we need to create new habits and boundaries to stay emotionally ‘safe’ and happy.   We’ll help your plan for tomorrow using the coping strategies you have already developed from all your yesterdays, taking ‘baby steps’ towards achieving your long term goals and daily routines and becoming an amazing YOU! Subscribe to the show, give us a review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favourite podcast player or go to https://livingyourlegacy.co.uk

Hosts Helen Ranson and Kim Raine present The Living Your Legacy podcast, a quest to create amazing life stories, hang out in the moment, and live a life full of joy. Listeners will join us as we trial and discuss the big topics in physical and emotional wellbeing. We’ll share our own experiences along the way, likely with a lot of laughter as we navigate our lives. Between us, we’ve been helping clients overcome burnout and emotional issues for more than 30 years. Now we want to let the rest of the world in on our secret and empower others to live fulfilled lives of joy and purpose. Living Your Legacy features personal stories, discussions about research on human nature and resilience, and chats about all the ‘woo woo’ stuff that helps people live their best lives. Between us, we’ve been helping clients overcome burnout and emotional issues for more than 30 years. Now we want to let the rest of the world in on our secret and empower others to live fulfilled lives of joy and purpose.